For Clinton, a kiss for Japan’s Queen

Instead of the customary bow, US secretary of State Hillary Clinton offers her solidarity to the people of Japan with a peck on the cheek to Empress Michiko

For Clinton, a kiss for Japan's Queen

Instead of the customary bow, US secretary of State Hillary Clinton offers her solidarity to the people of Japanu00a0 with a peck on the cheek to Empress Michiko

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Japan yesterday on an official visit aimed at showing solidarity with the key Asian ally in the wake of its devastating earthquake and tsunami.u00a0However, Clinton offered her own take during a Tokyo visit yesterday on how to treat Japan's imperial familyu00a0-- with a peck on the cheek. Clinton, on a brief visit to disaster-hit Japan to show US solidarity, took the unusual step of kissing Empress Michiko on the cheek.

Sealed with a kiss: Japanese Empress Michiko greets US Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton prior to tea at the Imperial Palace Residence in
Tokyo yesterday. Pic/AFP

She shook hands with Emperor Akihito, and was not seen bowing. The emperor and empress, figureheads of Japan under the post-World War II constitution, are traditionally reticent in public. But the emperor appeared on live television for the first time after the March 11 megaquake, and the imperial couple also visited victims of the tragedy. Since the disaster struck on March 11, sparking an ongoing nuclear crisis, US forces have won praise for a large-scale search, rescue and relief effort that has involved some 20,000 troops and scores of ships and aircraft.u00a0US nuclear experts have also helped with advice on stabilising the tsunami-hit Fukushima plant, where the US military has flown in coolants and deployed freshwater barges and fire engines to help douse hot reactors. A senior US official travellling with Clinton said that she wanted to seize on what appeared to be a "fundamental change" in Japanese views towards the US, which has based troops in Japan since the end of World War II.

"For many Japanese for decades they felt like the US presence and role in Japan was not decided by them, was a burden that they had to accept," he said. "This generation of Japanese has now been demonstrated very clearly with everything the United States has done that we are there for them in their time of need, and it has led to a sea change in Japanese attitudes toward the United States," the official said. He said the fact Clinton was invited for tea by Emperor Akihito later in the day was "huge" for a visitor who is not a head of state or government and "a clear indication of the attitude in Japan toward the United States".

Obama controversy
In 2009, President Barack Obama drew the ire of conservative critics when he bowed before the emperor. Critics said that he should have stood tall, despite officials insisting that bowing was customary. In Novemeber 2010, US First Lady Michelle Obama kicked up a storm when she forced conservative Indonesian Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring to shake hands with her.

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